#ryuhei hoshino

[danielladigitalbunny]

Yakuza - Like a Dragon / Ryu Ga Gotoku 7

[allonnotion]

So here's what the Memorial section on that exhibition look like:

[undercooked-spaghetti]

What if the reason it doesn't seem like Hoshino progressed in three years AT ALL between Judgment and Lost Judgment is because his grandpa was murdered in Ijincho and he's reeling hardcore from it?

Like, RGG doesn't just re-use names for main characters all willy-nilly. Hoshino, head of the Seiryu clan and Hoshino, dumb, insecure, useless little man at the Genda Law Office?

Hoshino is new to the Genda Law Office and doesn't even seem phased they're so cool with yakuza shenanigans. BECAUSE HIS GRANDPA IS A PATRIARCH!

It's my head-canon and I'm sticking to it.

[demifiendrsa]

Weekly Shonen Jump 55th anniversary appendix in Weekly Shonen Jump 2023 issue #33

1968 Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #1 Otoko Ippiki Gaki-Daisho by Hiroshi Motomiya 1969 Dr. Toilet by Kazuyoshi Torii 1970 The Gutsy Frog by Yasumi Yoshizawa 1971 Tezuka Manga Award 1st Edition Samurai Giants by Ikki Kajiwara & Ko Inoue Boy of the Wilderness Isamu by Soji Yamakawa & Noboru Kawasaki 1972 Astro Kyudan by Shiro Tōzaki & Norihiro Nakajima 1973 Play Ball by Akio Chiba Hochonin Ajihei by Jiro Gyu & Jo Big 1974 Akatsuka Manga Award 1st Edition 1975 The Circuit Wolf by Satoshi Ikezawa Doberman Deka by Buronson & Shinji Hiramatsu 1976 Toudai Icchokusen by Yoshinori Kobayashi Kochikame by Osamu Akimoto 1977 Ring ni Kakero by Masami Kurumada Susume!! Pirates by Hisashi Eguchi 1978 Cobra by Buichi Terasawa 1979 Kinnikuman by Yudetamago 1980 Dr. Slump by Akira Toriyama 1981 Captain Tsubasa by Yoichi Takahashi Cat's Eye by Tsukasa Hojo Stop!! Hibari-kun! by Hisashi Eguchi 1982 High School! Kimengumi by Motoei Shinzawa 1983 Fist of the North Star by Buronson & Tetsuo Hara Ginga -Nagareboshi Gin- by Yoshihiro Takahashi 1984 DRAGON BALL by Akira Toriyama 1985 City Hunter by Tsukasa Hojo Miraculous Tonchinkan by Koichi Endo Sakigake!! Otokojuku by Akira Miyashita 1986 Saint Seiya by Masami Kurumada 1987 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure by Hirohiko Araki The Burning Wild Man by Tadashi Sato 1988 Bastard!! by Kazushi Hagiwara Jungle King Tar-chan by Masaya Tokuhiro Rokudenashi BLUES by Masanori Morita Magical Taluluto by Tatsuya Egawa 1989 Weekly Shonen Jump reaches 5.000.000 copies in circulation Dragon Quest: The Great Adventure of Dai by Riku Sanjo & Koji Inada Video Girl Ai by Masakazu Katsura 1990 SLAM DUNK by Takehiko Inoue Chinyuki by Man Gataro Yu Yu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi 1992 Hareluya II Boy by Haruto Umezawa 1993 Tottemo! Luckyman by Hiroshi Gamo Hell Teacher Nube by Makura Sho & Takeshi Okano 1994 Midori no Makibao by Tsunomaru Rurouni Kenshin by Nobuhiro Watsuki 1995 Weekly Shonen Jump reaches 6.530.000 copies in circulation Sexy Commando Gaiden: Sugoi yo!! Masaru-san by Kyosuke Usuta 1996 Hoshin Engi by Ryu Fujisaki Yu-Gi-Oh! by Kazuki Takahashi Kochikame 20th Anniversary & Chapter 1000 1997 I's by Masakazu Katsura Seikimatsu Leader den Takeshi! by Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro ONE PIECE by Eiichiro Oda 1998 Rookies by Masanori Morita Whistle! by Daisuke Higuchi HUNTERXHUNTER by Yoshihiro Togashi 1999 Hikaru no Go by Yumi Hotta & Takeshi Obata The Prince of Tennis by Takeshi Konomi NARUTO by Masashi Kishimoto 2000 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean by Hirohiko Araki BLACK CAT by Kentaro Yabuki 2001 Bobobobo Bobobo by Yoshio Sawai BLEACH by Tite Kubo 2002 Strawberry 100% by Mizuki Kawashita Eyeshield 21 by Riichiro Inagaki & Yusuke Murata 2004 Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata Gintama by Hideaki Sorachi Katekyo Hitman Reborn! by Akira Amano D.Gray-man by Katsura Hoshino Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation by Yoshiyuki Nishi 2005 Neuro: Supernatural Detective by Yusei Matsui 2006 To Love Ru by Saki Hasemi & Kentaro Yabuki 2007 Sket Dance by Kenta Shinohara 2008 Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan by Hiroshi Shiibashi Toriko by Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro Bakuman. by Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata 2009 Kuroko's Basketball by Tadatoshi Fujimaki Beelzebub by Ryuhei Tamura Medaka Box by Nisio Isin & Akira Akatsuki 2010 ONE PIECE New World Begins 2011 Nisekoi by Naoshi Komi 2012 Haikyu!! by Haruichi Furudate The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. by Shuichi Aso Assassination Classroom by Yusei Matsui Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma by Yuto Tsukuda & Shun Saeki 2013 World Trigger by Daisuke Ashihara Isobe Isobee Monogatari by Ryo Nakama 2014 Hinomaru Zumo by Kawada My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi 2015 Black Clover by Yuki Tabata 2016 Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs by Tadahiro Miura Kimetsu no Yaiba by Koyoharu Gotouge BORUTO by Mikio Ikemoto & Ukyo Kodachi The Promised Neverland by Kaiu Shirai & Posuka Demizu Kochikame 40th Anniversary and Serialization End 2017 We Never Learn by Taishi Tsutsui Dr. STONE by Riichiro Inagaki & Boichi 2018 Jujutsu Kaisen by Akutami Gege

2019 Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto Mission: Yozakura Family by Hitsuji Gondaira 2020 Undead Unluck by Yoshifumi Tozuka MASHLE by Hajime Komoto Ayakashi Triangle by Kentaro Yabuki Me & Roboco by Shuhei Miyazaki BURN THE WITCH by Tite Kubo SAKAMOTO DAYS by Yuto Suzuki 2021 The Elusive Samurai by Yusei Matsui WITCH WATCH by Kenta Shinohara Blue Box by Kouji Miura 2022 Akane Banashi by Yuki Suenaga & Takamasa Moue

[cominy-kiwami]

like a dragon gaiden is really good. you can tell theyre kinda stretching their legs and expanding the way their stories are framed. i would never besmirch the earlier games but the relationships between characters tended to be simple "they are brothers" or "they are disloyal underlings". at the time of yakuza 3 i dont think they had it in them to make a kiryu-hanawa relationship. people like daigo, kiryu and saejima are "good people inside the crooked system" in the yakuza series but since yokoyama took charge of the studio you have people like kuwana, hanawa and ryuhei hoshino who have more complicated morals and instead have more realistic glimpses of virtue within their position as influential people in evil organizations. the stories are getting better for sure but in a very recognizable way. the localization of gaiden is sloppy and theres punctuation and spelling errors sprinkled throughout which i didnt notice AT ALL in yakuza 0 up through yakuza 7 but i can understand if this game just had less attention paid to it next to the monstrous behemoth omnibus of infinite wealth.

my biggest concern is substories at this stage. gaiden is of course not a full LAD game and the substories are simple, but i also was not really able to get into them in judgment and lost judgment, probably because in those games theyre longer winded and less numerous, but also i think because of the way you come across them. in previous yakuza games you would just run down the street and somebody would be like "hey man can you help me out" but in judgment, lost judgment and gaiden, you have to go see a bulletin board that says "i will be in this location so you can come talk to me and help me". i hope infinite wealth uses the traditional substory style and i have no reason to assume it wont.

[adamnfiddle]

How do you do, fellow kids?

[loveloveguilty]

[woundedheartwithin]

There’s literally no reason at all to believe that Hoshino-kun and Grandpa Hoshino are related but I choose to believe they are anyway. A young lawyer in Kamurocho with connections to the chairman of the Yokohama yakuza. No wonder he’s so comfortable teasing Higashi ❤️

[tarokro]

Character Introductions Yokohama Seiryu Clan

Hoshino Ryuhei Totsuka Yamato Takabe Mamoru

From the Yakuza 7 guidebook,  龍が如く７ 光と闇の行方 完全攻略極ノ書 (ファミ通の攻略本)

[milktrician-hell]

Yakuza: Like a Dragon Persona AU

I probably should make an updated post, or maybe an addendum to the last once since some stuff has changed since then.

This is just a list of social links applied to the plot of Y7 with a persona twist to it. I semi-thought out idea of integrating personas into the story but ill probably flesh it out another day.

They're organized in three different ways because I'm like that.

Y7 Persona AU Tag

Guide:

* = Party Member

- = Gained Confidant over the course of the story

& = Ichiban’s already existing social links from the start of the story

Tarot Order (kinda)

Fool: Ichiban Kasuga * (In game this would be the SL for the Kasuga Party)

Magician: Yu Nanba *

Priestess: Saeko Mukoda *

Empress: Seong-hui -

Emperor: Zhao Tianyou *

Hierophant: Masumi Arakawa &

Lovers: Sumire Sawa -

Chariot: Mitsuo Yasamura &

Justice: Koichi Adachi *

Hermit: Kazuma Kiryu -

Fortune: Eri Kamataki *

Strength: Iroha Yanagi -

Hanged Man: Masato Arakawa/Aoki Ryo &

Death: Ryuhei Hoshino -

Temperance: Osamu Kashiwagi/Bartender -

Devil: Jo Sawashiro &

Tower: “Akira” -

Star: Nick Ogata -

Moon: Joon-gi Han/Yeonsu Kim *

Sun: Hamako -

Fool: “Heroes from Rockbottom”, Formed after reuniting with Adachi

Judgement: “The Heroes of Tomorrow”, The period in time after Ichiban reunites with Masato at Otohime Land

In order of appearance in the story

- Prologue -

Hierophant: Masumi Arakawa

Devil: Jo Sawashiro

Hanged-Man: Masato Arakawa/Ryo Aoki

Chariot: Mitsuo Yasamura

- Post Imprisonment -

Justice: Koichi Adachi

Star: Nick Ogata

Tower: “Akira” (Right after he gets shot)

- Waking up in Yokohama -

Magician: Yu Nanba

Sun: Hamako

Fool: The Heroes at Rockbottom (Obtained after reuniting with Adachi)

Temperance: Osamu Kashiwagi/Bartender

Strength: Iroha Yanagi

Death: Ryuhei Hoshino

- Nonomiya gets killed -

Priestess: Saeko Mukoda

Lovers: Sumire Sawa

Fortune: Eri Kamataki

- Sent to the Geomijul -

Moon: Joon-gi Han

Emperor: Zhao Tianyou

Empress: Seong-hui

Judgement: The Heroes of Tomorrow (Obtained after meeting with Aoki in Otohime Land)

Hermit: Kazuma Kiryu (Post fight)

Organized

Party:

Ichiban Kasuga: Fool

Koichi Adachi: Justice

Yu Nanba: Magician

Saeko Mukoda: Priestess

Eri Kamataki: Fortune

Joon-gi Han: Moon

Zhao Tianyou: Emperor

Social Links:

Nick Ogata: Star

Iroha Yanagi: Strength

Bartender/Osamu Kashiwagi: Temperance

Sumire Sawa: Lovers

Hamako: Sun

“Akira”: Tower

Seong-hui: Empress

Mitsuo Yasamura: Chariot

Kazuma Kiryu: Hermit

Social Links (Ranks with story points):

“Heroes from Rockbottom”: Fool

Ryuhei Hoshino: Death

Masumi Arakawa: Hierophant

Jo Sawashiro: Devil

Masato Arakawa/Ryo Aoki: Hanged Man

“Heroes of Tomorrow”: Judgement

Again I have some ideas I thought of for the AU but I probably won't get to them until after I finish up the confidant menu project, which is the main reason why I made this list in the first place lmao.

[danielladigitalbunny]

Yakuza - Like a Dragon / Ryu Ga Gotoku 7

[draayder]

Omi Pins Tojo Pins

okay onto the final part: everyone else! as with the previous two, mild spoilers across all the games

Atobe Family

Do you remember these guys? no you don’t. if you said yes you’re lying. This is a family from Asakusa who shows up for approximately 10 minutes, has their name mentioned once, and you see their pin once. That’s right, this is the family involved with that part in Y1 where you gotta deal with the Florist’s shitty kid. A really great pin, shockingly, very striking and good use of silver black and grey as well as breaking the circle. I would have expected this to be from a major player

Ryudo Family

Not to be confused with the Omi Ryudo, this is the Okinawan family from 3 featuring Nakahara, Mikio, and of course Rikiya. I.............. don’t think any of them actually wear it though, so you only see it as fight intros. A stellar pin, the use of the shisa is great even if it is a little hard to read. The way it encircles the family kanji really gives off the protective vibe of the shisa

Ueno Seiwa Family

so normally I complain about gold on gold being hard to read, which is true, but the shape of this is so different than anyone elses’ that you can tell at a glance exactly what family you’re dealing with. A good pin

Yamagasa Family

This pin has always slapped. It’s bold and geometric, easy to read, and looks great on a formal hakata. It’s very sleek and modern imo, which is once again funny for a very traditional family like the Yamagasa out in Nagasugai, but overall just a top tier pin

Yahata Family

It makes sense that the direct subordinates would just tweak the design, but adding in the calligraphy 八 clashes a little with the nice geometry, making this a worse pin. It’s also extremely hard to tell from a Yamagasa pin, but that’s fine since they’re part of it and they benefit from people thinking they’re higher up than they actually are. Still a pretty good pin

Kitakata Family

Y5 really went off on its pins, this one’s for those guys up in Tsukimino. It’s bold and easy to read, but not quite as good as the Yamagasa pin. Very effective still though

Yomei Alliance

Time for these assholes out in Onomichi. So obv we got that rising sun iconography kind of going on which is Not Great but does tie thematically with what that family was founded on. Definitely very good at conveyance, you’re not going to mistake it for anyone else in the area

Masuzoe Family

Remember this dude? I sure didn’t. The Yomei guys don’t really stick to a theme, which is fine, and this pin is pretty good. It’s a little busy, I think the center kanji could use a little more room to breathe and feels slightly off center due to how the line on the left almost touches the edges unlike every other part of it

Koshimizu Family

Remember this guy? Maybe you do, he was a lot more memorable than Masuzoe. His pin is actually really great. I love the evocation of a sword hilt and how the scalloped edges are cut out internally to slot in the calligraphy, it gives a very nice organic flow to the whole thing. The color balance is also very good. 10/10 pin, one of the best in the series imo

Hirose Family

Simple, effective, unmistakable. Hirose has a good pin. The edges remind me of a government organization, which gives it a nice sense of authority despite being a tiny little group. The use of the grass lines helps break up the space so it’s not just a boring circle and draws the eye up to the top kanji, which has the lines to draw the eye back down. A good pin

Kyorei Clan

An Osaka based group that isn’t Omi! It’s from judgment and most famously Shioya is a member. Really cool pin! I like the angles a lot, and it’s a very unique shape! very cool, great pin

Seiryu Clan

what no I totally didn’t forget this one the first time. shut up. So this pin has a lot going for it. The swirling waves leading the eye in, and the fact that it has the full family name + clan sets it apart. A fun fact on this one is that the patriarch is  星野 龍平 (Hoshino Ryuhei) and this family takes the first kanji from his family and given name to make  星龍 (seiryu) which is a homophone with  青龍 (seiryu), the blue dragon of the four legendary beasts (also the one Kiryu is represented by!). However while the blue dragon’s kanji is literally blue+dragon, this family is star+dragon, which is fucking baller as hell. A great pin on that aspect alone, and a solid design to back it up

Non-Yakuza Organizations

Peace Finance

Okay so all the non-yakuza “pins” are out of Y1 (with 2 exceptions), because they just fucking loved making pins and icons and shit during that game. No one actually wears this one, it just flashes during one of the very early fights in Y1 when Kiryu helps Shinji deal with some shitty loan sharks. It kind of reminds me of a cult? It’s definitely trying too hard to be non-threatening, which ends up making it threatening, which is perfect for the organization it’s used for

Purgatory

Damn do I fucking love ho-o’s. Nagoshi please put a ho-o on someone’s back. You can have my oc. Please. This isn’t a pin, it’s the floor of the colosseum, and it looks great

Snake Flower Triad

Another one that no one wears, it’s very effective. You got snakes. You got a flower. There’s three things. Got it in one, everyone go home. The shape is unique enough that even being the worse kind of gold on gold you can tell whose it is

MIA

This one does get worn! It’s effective as a weird government shadow group, with the military look to it alongside the divine looking wings/halo/rays of light. It’s super hard to read from a distance, but that’s okay for a group that isn’t trying to advertise itself to anyone who doesn’t already know them

Jingu

Jingu’s personal pin. It’s very government-y, being not far off from the royal family’s pin or a lawyer’s badge, and the kind of purpley look is really nice. A good pin for an awful guy

Dragon Heat

This is from Kurohyou, and like the Purgatory design it’s what’s on the colosseum ring. It’s got two dragons fighting each other, what more could you want for a bloodsport? It’s scuffed and faded, showing that this place either gets a lot of use or isn’t making that much cash, which is some nice environmental storytelling

Ashura

Same deal as before but this time it’s for Kurohyou 2. Another fighting ring, another scuffed up floor, this time featuring an asura, beings in a state of constant battle with the devas of hinduism, which is fitting for a fighting ring that’s supposed to be even more brutal. a good design, though I wish it had a little more of the depth that the dragon heat one had

and that’s all of them! except for whichever ones I missed! But we can ignore those!! I’m sure they’re not important

[satoshi-mochida]

Sega has released new information and screenshots of Yakuza: Like a Dragon introducing Yokohama Seiryu Clan characters Ryuhei Hoshino and Mamoru Takabe.

Get the details below.

■ Yokohama Seiryu Clan

The “Ijinsan” are the three major powers that control Isezaki Ijincho in Yokohama. The Seiryu Clan, one of those three powers, is the single greatest yakuza organization in Yokohama. Chairman Ryuhei Hoshino, an old-fashioned and genuine yakuza, has controlled the underworld of Yokohama since long ago.

—Yokohama Seiryu Clan Headquarters

The Yokohama Seiryu Clan Headquarters rules over the underworld of Isezaki Ijincho. Thorough measures have been taken to prevent intruders from raiding the building. It is said to have relentless security layered throughout, and that even if an intruder managed to make their way inside, they would not be able to make it out alive.

Ryuhei Hoshino (voiced by Tetsuo Kaneo)

The chairman of the the Yokohama Seiryu Clan, the sole yakuza organization in Isezaki Ijincho. He is a genuine yakuza who values duty, humanity, and honor, and is committed to the ways of old-fashioned chivalry. While he is a big-shot who has controlled the underworld of Isezaki Ijincho for many years, he is also a gatekeeper who has continued to protect Ijincho from the invasion of foreign enemies.

Mamoru Takabe (voiced by Taichi Endou)

The sharp number two of the Yokohama Seiryu Clan. He has sworn his allegiance to Ryuhei Hoshino, who has placed great trust in him as his right arm. While he has a calm and collected personality, his hot-bloodedness allows absolutely no tolerance for his enemies.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is due out for PlayStation 4 on January 16, 2020 in Japan, and in 2020 in the Americas and Europe. A demo is also planned. Read more about the game here, here, here, here, here, and here.

View the screenshots at the gallery.

[cominy-kiwami]

WHATTT is ryuhei hoshino voiced by caesar from fnv

[kinogane]

Essence of Combat, Part 3: The Pinnacle

(major Yakuza: Like a Dragon and other Yakuza spoilers below)

(previously)

In the waning moments of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Ichiban and crew defeat governor of Tokyo Ryo Aoki and his flunkies after successfully exposing Aoki's true nature and unsuccessfully trying to bring him back from his excessively paranoid megalomania. As the battle proves to be ultimately too strenuous for the party members, Ichiban sets off on his own to end it all and settle things one-on-one. But not with Ryo Aoki, governor of Tokyo, political phenom, ruthless schemer, two-faced hypocrite, the man behind the murders of Ryuhei Hoshino and others, and the source of just about everything that's gone wrong for Ichiban since New Year's Day 2001.

No, he's settling things with Masato Arakawa. The young master. A man who he served without hesitation, a man who he saw and still sees, despite everything, as his own brother.

Besides the obvious emotional weight behind the final battle, there's also a few mechanical quirks. The first is that Ichiban is in a battle by himself for the first time since he teams with Adachi to infiltrate the Omi Alliance meeting in Kamurocho. The second, and what I find significantly more interesting, is that Ichiban is automatically reclassed into the Freelancer job that the vast majority of players will not have used since the aforementioned bat-drawing scene that gives players access to Ichiban's Hero job.

I find this switch to Freelancer interesting, because it reflects another hallmark of the Yakuza action combat. Or, more accurately, a hallmark of Yakuza combat in the context of its plot: the final boss fight.

The Yakuza games have a long history of having one-on-one climactic final boss fights to mark the end of gameplay. As you would expect, these bosses tend to be among the toughest in the whole game, and the choreography of the cutscenes in the fight, along with the usually highly dramatic circumstances surrounding it, generally mean that they rank among the most memorable encounters in the series as a whole.

Going back to the Freelancer switch, it's worth noting that for this fight, the game reasonably assumes that most players haven't leveled the job at all and helpfully gives Ichiban access to the entire skillset of the Freelancer job.

The Freelancer skills, in order, are:

Tenacious Fist: A windup right hook.

Rock Swing: A headlock into a hip toss.

Headbutt Barrage: A collar grab into two headbutts, then a jumping headbutt.

Hyper Swagger: A taunt that raises attack and evasion.

Dropkick: A standing dropkick.

Ruffian's Kick: A jumping side kick.

Atomic Drop: An atomic drop, as seen previously in Yakuza games as Essence of Knee Slam.

Release German Suplex: A release German suplex.

Notice that all are unarmed techniques, befitting of a job that has no weapon type and must be unarmed, and all of them wouldn't really be out of place in a Kiryu Saga protagonist's moveset. (Again, Shinada and Kiryu can already perform an atomic drop as Heat Actions in Yakuza 5 and Yakuza 0 and Kiwami, respectively.)

As a bonus (and a bit of a reach), every previous mainline Yakuza protagonist can learn the ability to build Heat by taunting, often through the White Tiger Spirit upgrade, and at least in 0 (and possibly other games), having Heat can increase your damage and evasiveness. What does Hyper Swagger do, again?

To really drive things home, the top level Freelancer skill is the job's Kiwami Action, Essence of Roadside Weapon. In many situations, it's simply the Essence of Might Heat Action that's been in many previous Yakuza games, but as its description suggests, performing it in other specific contexts has you instead performing attacks that may be, let's say, familiar to series veterans.

So the framing is really clear. For all intents and purposes, the final battle against Masato is the climactic final boss fight of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, further punctuated by Ichiban's Freelancer moveset making him the closest to a standard Yakuza protagonist he can possibly be. In this moment, Like a Dragon most closely and deliberately resembles the Yakuza games of the past.

To which I can't help but ask: if you're going to go this far in embracing Yakuza tradition, why not go all the way and let you control Ichiban in action combat?

Of course, there's a very obvious answer. They can't, because introducing an entirely new control scheme at the final hour in a game explicitly intended as a soft reboot for the franchise would be an ill-advised move. Additionally, while I've no insight into the intricacies of working with the Dragon Engine, I would not be even remotely surprised to find out that implementing action combat in Like a Dragon would be exceedingly difficult; making video games is very, very hard. And even if was feasible or even relatively simple, I would not be surprised if the testing and debugging necessary to make sure it was up to snuff would be considered too prohibitive to be worthwhile. Again, making video games is very, very hard, and making good video games is even harder. (And all of this is without considering RGG Studio's prolific output. They've put out games of this scope, almost every year, for over a decade.)

But putting aside the pragmatic reality of the matter, I do think it's worth interrogating the implications of Ichiban adopting the most mundane job and using the most mundane techniques against Masato but retaining the turn-based structure. Ichiban, by all accounts, is well within his rights to hold nothing back against Aoki, who's callously ruined innumerable lives in the name of his own need to attain absolute power and avoid being among the used at any cost. Ichiban could absolutely brain Aoki with a bat and give him the definitely not fatal concussion to end all definitely not fatal concussions, and it would maybe be a step too far, but not by much. (And as a consequence of transferrable skills and battle items, it is actually somewhat likely that you, as Ichiban, can do things like stab Aoki with a katana, throw dynamite right in his face, or blast him with a rocket launcher.)

But again, Ichiban's not fighting Aoki. He's fighting Masato. No one would blame him for not holding back, as he did back in prison against the three prisoners, but he still does. The Freelancer job switch means his stats are almost certainly objectively lower, across the board. He becomes unarmed, and loses access to many of his most powerful skills. And he still approaches the fight with his turn-based mindset, letting Masato get his hits in, just like every other enemy he's faced up to this point, because it's only fair. Because in spite of everything Masato has put Ichiban and his loved ones through, Masato is still the young master, still a brother to Ichiban. He just does not have it in himself to go all out against Masato. He's not fighting Masato to prove he's stronger; he's fighting Masato to stop him from losing himself further to his worst excesses and fears. To help him start over from rock bottom, just as he has.

Tremendous resonance between gameplay and story, to be sure, but it leaves an intriguing door open. Veterans who've played Yakuza 5 and 6 may remember that those games openly toy with the idea that while Kiryu has not purposefully killed in cold blood, he knows and more or less states that doing so is never fully off the table. So even if it somewhat obviously never comes to fruition, the specter of that possibility is played for drama in those games. Will this be the step too far that drives Kiryu to kill?

I posit that the Masato fight in Like a Dragon poses a similar question. It's not the case this time, but in future Yakuza games, will Ichiban ever be in such a dire situation, and come across an opponent who he deeply hates so much, that he drops the turn-based mindset entirely? And if so, will he be controlled like Yakuza games of old?

I've said as much before, but I don't think this is a given or even necessarily a good idea. Knowing what we do about Ichiban and the kind of person he is, it might very well be the case that this final boss fight is an intensely personal one and therefore special, and future final boss fights will be more along the lines of the more traditional (in a Like a Dragon sense) boss fight against Tendo, which would certainly be more in line with most turn-based RPG final boss fights. Hell, there are already people who treat Tendo as the true final boss fight and both fights afterward as bonus story fights.

Personally? I'm of two minds with this. On one hand, sure, I would have a lot of fun controlling Ichiban in action combat, even if it was just for one boss fight, because I do have considerably more fun with Yakuza action combat, hitting counters and performing Heat Actions, and the character implications of doing so would be a lot to chew on. But on the other, I also find the turn-based combat satisfying in a different way, I know that the action combat I prefer isn't going away any time soon in other games, and I think that it'd be better for the Ichiban games as a whole to make a clean break. The circumstances of the Masato fight are a neat throwback and acknowledgement of Yakuza's past, but I suspect if they do something similar in future games without going all the way, it'll land considerably flatter.

In other words, regardless of what direction they choose to take final boss fights (and to a lesser extent, combat mechanics like Kiwami Actions writ large) in the Like a Dragon sequels, I'm saying they should follow Saejima's evergreen advice.

[woundedheartwithin]

*kicks down door*

EXACTLY. YES. FINALLY SOMEONE AGREES WITH ME

What if the reason it doesn't seem like Hoshino progressed in three years AT ALL between Judgment and Lost Judgment is because his grandpa was murdered in Ijincho and he's reeling hardcore from it?

Like, RGG doesn't just re-use names for main characters all willy-nilly. Hoshino, head of the Seiryu clan and Hoshino, dumb, insecure, useless little man at the Genda Law Office?

Hoshino is new to the Genda Law Office and doesn't even seem phased they're so cool with yakuza shenanigans. BECAUSE HIS GRANDPA IS A PATRIARCH!

It's my head-canon and I'm sticking to it.